Please continue to check our website and Facebook page for further updates and information regarding school closure and further developments around home learning:

www.ashtrees.org

For any enquiries requiring more urgent attention, please contact the following email address and a member of our Senior Leadership Team will arrange for someone to contact you back:

ashtreesclosure@ascenttrust.org Home Learning

Booklet

Dear Parents and Carers,

The following pages contain ideas for activities that can help to support your child to continue to learn during this period of school closure. These are merely suggestions and the activities do not need to be completed in any order or any set number of times. Each activity has a symbol next to it and there are a set of symbols attached with this booklet so that you can help to schedule your child’s day if you wish to do so.

Inside the booklet is a social story that you may wish to share with your child about Coronavirus and school closure if you feel that it is appropriate to do so.

We recognise that this may be a very difficult time for some families and further guidance around the support that school can offer is contained towards the end of this booklet.

Many thanks,

The staff of Ash Trees Academy

Please use this booklet to try and create a regu-lar routine for your child if you feel that it will help. There is no need to try and attempt all of the ac-tivities and many will not be suitable for every child. We have attached symbols to this booklet so that you can help your child to plan their day using an adapted visual timetable or a ’Now/Next’ style board.

In addition to the activities in this booklet, we have also provided you with some appropriate reading books to support your child while they are off school.

We have also provided a copy of your child’s learn-ing plan with targets to be worked on of you wish. Many of the targets will be able to be completed using the activities contained in this booklet, par-ticularly those targets relating to communication and interaction.

We have also attached sensory integration plans to help, where possible, at home.

A digital version of this booklet is available on our website.

The following social story is designed to help understand what Coronavirus is and what is happen-ing at the moment. Obviously only share with your child if you think it will help them to understand but not if you feel that it will cause anxiety in any way.

Use everyday items combined with some toys to create a ‘small world investigation’ table. Below are some ideas and suggested resources. Use the resources over the next few pages to help your child communicate about their play:

Activity: Transporting with tractors Resources: Tractors, oats or cereal

Activity: Farm animal small world Resources: Farm animals, soil, grass, water, straw

Activity: Ducks in gloop Resources: Cornflour, water, food colouring, ducks Activity: Washing animals Resources: Farm animals, water, angel delight or custard, brush

Below are some useful apps that some of your children may enjoy, particularly useful for our more sensory learners:

Fluidity – mark making / cause and effect Gravitarium – mark making / cause and effect Fingerpaint – cause and effect / art Xylophone – music Beatwave – Cause and effect. Help Kidz Learn.com – collection of stories anc

activities that you can access.

Sensory room – story

TV guide – find how long is your favourite show? Review your favourite TV programme Write an alternate story ending to your favourite tale Make your own weather or moon chart – tracking how the

moon or weather changes Perform your own puppet show with puppets or hand shadows Keep a plant diary Observational drawings of people, plants, objects, nature Rubbings and Printing of natural objects. PE how many different activities can you do in a minute Make a gingerbread man Scrap book of interesting events. Draw a plan of your bedroom Make a mini bedroom using a shoebox

Dough Disco is a fun activity which combines the use of play dough with a series of hand and finger exercises designed to improve fine muscle control. The movements develop children's fine and gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination. There are several videos available or exercises can be created yourself. Just type ’Dough Disco’ into Youtube for a wide selection of videos.

Below is a simple recipe for playdough if you don’t have any available. Simply mix the ingredients together in a bowl and add water until the mixture forms a dough. It will last few quite a while in an air tight container or bag. The sheet on the opposite page can be used to help your child communicate requests during the activity.

1. 2 cups plain flour (all purpose). 2. 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (baby oil and coconut oil

work too) 3. 1/2 cup salt. 4. 1 to 1.5 cups water (adding in increments until it feels just right) 5. Food colouring (optional)

Here are some more possible activities linked to our topics of Traditional Tales/Spring and Summer:

Observations of weather, linked with seasons (what do we were what can we see?

Keep a diary or picture diary

Create a collage of spring items or summer items

Board games like snakes and ladders for social skills

Jigsaws are good for problem solving

You could even make your own jigsaw to test a grown up against the clock

Role play characters from your favourite story

Create costume for a character

Write about your favourite character and why they are your favourite

Write a charter description

Write a setting description

Make maps of character journeys e.g. the journey of the gingerbread man/red riding hood in the woods.

Below are some useful website links that some of our more able children may find enjoyable:

Website Links: (search in google)

Top Marks

Twinkl

BBC Super Movers

Science Sparks

Nrich – Maths

Joe Wicks – 5 min exercise on YouTube

Jack Hartman on YouTube

Top Marks - interactive educational games (via the internet)- repeating patterns, counting, shapes etc.

Write Dance is a movement based approach to developing writing and mark making in children. It can be done simply at home using crayons, pencils or paints on a table with pieces of paper covering it or on the floor/outside using other materials such as water, flour, shaving foam or sand. Simply select a song to play (or even sing if your feeling brave) that includes movement. The Wheels on the Bus is an excellent example. Encourage your child firstly to explore the movements made with their hands/streamers/scarves etc. then replay the song supporting your child to make marks with your support that follow the actions e.g. round and round or up and down. Don’t worry about what the picture looks like, the main thing is having fun and making purposeful marks!

Try creating a rainbow picture using hand prints, footprints, sponges or potato prints. Use the colour chart on the opposite page to choose colours.

At school we regularly use massage to try and relax and engage the children, while helping them to work alongside each other and communicate things they enjoy. Select some relaxing music, turn the lights off and follow the different symbol instructions. If your child likes a particular part of the massage, use the sheet over the page to allow your child to make requests.

Hands form blades for up and down movements on back

Swirl hands around back like a snow storm.

Make little snip-ping motions as if having hair cut.

Stroke your child’s hair from back to front slowly.

Use firmer pressure as if being a large bear stomping.

Slide flat hands down both arms.

Setting the table:

Pattern of the knives/forks – copying and repeating it

Counting out how many people are eating – how many do we need?

Colour code the plates – sorting plates and cups

Deciding what to have for tea:

Making a choice/ordering what they want to eat

Verbal requests or symbol requests

Turn-taking and communicating with an adult

Cooking tasks:

Children supporting with cooking skills – spreading, chopping, mixing, adding, pouring, baking, eating

Where does the food come from?

Sorting with vegetables and fruits into groups or col-ours

Children looking at where things grow – e.g. digging for vegetable from the ground (role playing this in the garden)

Washing up and putting away:

Matching the plates etc. when putting them away

Life skills of washing up and engaging with the washing up.

I spy with my little eye – what can you see?

Link to words and initial sounds e.g. C-C-CAT

I hear with my little ear – what can you hear?

Children listening, identifying noises and making sounds verbally e.g.

You hear a dog – what noise does a dog make?

Hopscotch

Turn-taking, counting, hopping and jumping onto 2 feet for movement

Hide and seek

Counting down, turn-taking, engagement

Snap

Picture matching, turn-taking

What’s missing?

Add 5 items to a table – identify the items (verbally or with symbols/gestures), adult to hide an item. What have I taken away?

Copy the pattern

Adult to model a pattern e.g. clap, pat knees, clap – can they copy the pattern?

Patterns can be done with concrete objects e.g. a teddy, a cup, a spoon – can they repeat the pattern?

Messy play is a very good way of enabling children to explore in a way that helps them to be curious and develop skills for imagination, curiosity and communication. It also helps children to understand their senses by allowing them time to experience new tastes, smells and textures. Try giving your child a tray/large bowl full of something unusual (and safe) that they wouldn’t usually explore. It might be messy but spend some time with your child exploring different materials e.g. cornflour mixed with water, spaghetti hoops, water with bubbles in (a good way to encourage hand washing!) and shaving foam. Different spices which do not irritate the eyes/skin such as cinnamon can help to create some lovely smells/tastes for children to explore. By talking to your child in simple terms about what they are experiencing, you are helping to develop vocabulary and understanding of concepts.

Yoga is an excellent way to support your child’s physical development and understanding of their own body. It can also build strength and is an extremely efficient form of exercise to complete in a small space. Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube have lots of child friendly stories to choose from with movements that can be adapted to suit your child’s ability. Use a rolled out towel, rug or blanket on the floor for your child to lay on if you’d like. The presenter sometimes moves quite quickly between exercises so you may want to pause the video to help your child get into a position before moving on. ‘We’re Going On a Bear Hunt’ is particularly popular at Ash Trees!

Discuss with your child what type of weather they can see out of the window or in the garden on a daily basis. Watch Mr Tumble – signing different types of weather https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFEo0e-1kVE

Spring Vocabulary

A structured snack time can be a good way to break up a long morning or afternoon and is an opportunity to practice social and communication skills. Below is an a communication board that could be used to support your child to communicate around some potential snack items.

Story time is a lovely opportunity to sit with your child and share a book or e-book.

Stories help children learn about the world around them and relationships.

As you share stories discuss characters, their feel-ings and actions. See if your child can predict what might happen next.

Once familiar with a story (via reading a number of times) ask your child to retell the story to others.

Use puppets, small world construction materials and figures to retell key scenes from the story; this will develop working memory and speaking and listening skills.

Traditional tales are very popular at the moment, as these are linked to our topic– Once upon a time.

You can find traditional tales power point stories on the Communication 4 All website—see link below-

http://www.communication4all.co.uk/http/Traditionaltales.htm

Spring Walk in the Garden

Looking for leaves, colours, animals – identifying, verbalising and exploration.

Sensory engagement – smelling the flowers, touching cut grass, listening to the birds.

Decorating Hard Boiled Eggs

Make a hard-boiled spring egg design, colouring and sticking with different materials.

Spring Easter bonnet

Using spring colours to decorate a hat.

Identifying the animals and their babies e.g. chicken and chick – picture matching

Try making these tasty Easter nests using the communication board below to select ingredients.

Gardening is a great activity for children, they can access the outdoor environment without leaving the home setting.

Children can;

Dig—this is a great sensory experience

Plants seeds & bulbs

Look for mini beasts

Build mini habitats for animals

Count flowers, birds or trees

Make a bird feeder or bird bath

Talk about where food comes from/ grows

Signing at Ash Trees Academy is an essential communication tool. We endeavour to teach and use Makaton on a daily ba-sis.

Here are a few signs to practise in the home setting.

Why not try:

Playing with box– What could it be? (bus, house, car, rocket…)

Water play :- pouring, sinking, floating, creat-ing environments for action figures / plastic animals, pretend cookery—use bowls spoons & jugs

Make a den

Using soft toys, make a vets or a pet hotel

Organise a teddy bears picnic– make food and share with the family

Mathematical activities in the home setting

Why not try:

Singing number songs

Counting objects—touching each object as you count

Matching objects/ numerals/ shapes

Make repeating patterns

Practise writing numbers

Playing number games—dominoes, cards, snakes and ladders

Look for shapes in the environment

Sort objects biggest to smallest/ shortest to longest

Learn to tell the time

Practise counting in ones, twos, fives and tens—extend beyond this if able to

You can find lots of interactive maths games for children aged 3yrs– and beyond on Topmarks website– see link below

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/3-5-years/counting

Youtube have a range of songs for children—counting, shapes etc– please ensure you moderate these resources before allowing your children to access them and ensure close supervision when using Youtube.

Many of our pupils love to sing, make music and dance.

We use a range of resources to promote singing, making music and dance. Many resources/ stimulus

come directly from Youtube.

Why not try barefoot books:-

Make your own musical instruments using everyday household items: boxes, tubes, chopsticks, wooden

spoons ...